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Cast:
Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Suniel Shetty, |
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Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Sameera Reddy |
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Year:
2009 |
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Music:
Pritam, RDB |
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Lyrics:
Sayeed Quadri, Irshaad Kamil, Sameer, Ashish
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Editor:
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Co-Producer: |
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Banner:
Venus Records & Tapes |
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Producer:
Ratan Jain, Champak Jain |
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Story and Director:
Priyadarshan |
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| Priyadarshan
reunites with his 'Hera Pheri' cast but can't quite capture
the madness of that iconic comic caper. Actually, it would
be unfair to even compare the two movies, because De Dana
Dan is much more than just about the presence of Akshay
Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. This film has a much
larger cast and a very loose plot which is ridden with the
old comic cliché of mistaken identities. Everybody seems to
be after everybody and it's like a merry go round which just
doesn't stop till one is dizzy trying to make sense of what
is happening. There is lot of confusion and chaos, and some
of it is genuinely funny, but not all of it. The end result
is film which seems to get most of the grammar right but
loses a bit on the flavour side. Of course the laughs come
but not as frequently as one would have expected. |
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We have our two protagonists, (Nitin Bankar)Akshay
and Suniel (Ram Mishra), who are down and out
financially but have made the mistake of falling in
love with daughters of rich men. Akshay is a paid
slave to the middleaged owner of a mall, played by
Archana Puran Singh, while Shetty works for a
courier company. Being totally broke, they decide to
hatch a plan whereby they can become rich overnight
and marry the girls of their choice. The plan is to
kidnap the mall owner's dog and demand a huge
ransom. But everything goes wrong and |
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the dog manages to escape. In the confusion that
happens, the cops assume that Nitin has been kidnapped and
the mall owner is pressured to pay up the ransom to rescue
him from the clutches of the kidnappers.
On the other
side, Katrina, who is Nitin's ladylove is engaged to be
married to Chunkey Pandey's character, whose father, a
conman, played brilliantly by Paresh Rawal but the
engagement is broken when Paresh Rawal finds a richer family
to marry his son into so that he can get more dowry which
will help him pay off his debts. Rawal is being hunted down
by the cops as ten of his cheques have bounced. Sharat
Saxena plays the cop who has made it his mission to nab
Rawal.
Meanwhile
Chunky's marriage is now fixed with Sameera Reddy, Ram's
ladylove. The venue for the wedding has been fixed at the a
five star in Singapore and the entire cast of characters
lands up at the hotel, leading to a lot of confusion. Among
the cast of characters which lands up at the hotel are a
gunman, played by Johnny Lever, a Chinese mafia don, played
by |
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Asrani,
a lecherous rich man played by Shakti Kapoor who is
there for a rendezvous with Neha Dhupia's character,
Paresh Rawal's wife (Aditi Gowitrikar)'s young lover
(Vihaan Choudhary), all of who are aided and abetted
by the hotel attendant, played by Rajpal Yadav.
Confusion reigns supreme as cases of mistaken
identity keep increasing till the final climax. Just
when Nitin and Ram think that all is over for them,
fate plays its cards and they manage to get their
hand on the huge ransom money they had demanded of
the mall owner. |
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One has to admire the manner in which Priyadarshan
structures his plot which is like a noose which
keeps tightening, trapping the cast of players.
Everybody character and incident is wonderfully
connected or related to the other character, thereby
forming a perfect chain of events, which get a fresh
twist with every connection. He has his formula down
pat and in a manner of speaking, De Dana Dan is
copybook example of how to write a farcical comedy.
The film has pace and fresh twists at every corner.
But it is not really as funny as one would have
expected it to be.
Most of
the cast of players put in a genuine performance but
in some places the comedy just does not come out, as
the actors are reduced to shouting at each other.
Akshay and Suniel certainly share a very good screen
chemistry and it comes out very well in this film as
two frustrated friends, who keep threatening to
commit suicide. One can't say the same about the
girls, Katrina and Sameera, who have little to do in
scheme of things. Paresh Rawal is good as the
Punjabi conman, even though he is not in the best of
forms. The trio is well supported by Rajpal Yadav,
who really manages to make the most of his character
and overshines most of the veterans on the scene.
This actor is a scene stealer and so is Johnny Lever
as the hitman. Asrani and Shakti Kapoor are
competent and so is Archana Puran Singh. The rest of
the cast is quite supportive and chips in with good
performances. The music of this movie, |
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which has been composed by Pritam is just about
okay. It never seems to draw attention itself. In
fact, the 'Paisa' song seems forced into the
narrative as it adds no value to the movie. The
production values are good and Priyadarshan reveals
his hold over the comic medium. He makes a movie
which is funny, but there just seems to be too much
happening in the movie, which takes away from the
story of Bankar and Mishra. A little less confusion
or maybe a fewer twists may have made it a tad more
enjoyable. |
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